Friday May 26, 2017--Toronto FC vs Columbus Crew (by Rocket Robin)

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I've found that I don't have the time to do a game play by play with all the writeups I'm doing
covering other leagues. I will skip the details and maybe do that after the season is over.

4 min...TFC Donovan Ricketts wins Penalty kick on long run down middle into Crew box when Crew Johnthan Mensah
grabs his shoulder then trips him up. Referee Drew Fischer also give Mensah a Yellow card.

5 min...TFC Victor Vazquez GOAL...Vazquez takes Penalty kick low to right as goalie Zack Steffan dives left.

38 min...TFC Justin Bieber GOAL...TFC Ben Spencer in middle rolls ball to Morrow on left and he takes 20 yard shot
that goes through goalie's hands to short left side of net.

58 min...TFC Victor Vazquez GOAL...Vazquez takes 18 yards freekick in middle and rolls ball to right side of net just
inside the post.

80 min...TFC RED card...Marky Delgado earns a direct ejection as he slid into Crew Wil Trapp as they both came towards
the ball from opposite directions at the Crew 45 yard line.

85 min...TFC Johnathan Osorio GOAL...TFC Jordan Hamilton rolls pass from 23 yards forward and Osorio on left
rolls 15 yarder into right corner of net.

93 min...TFC Jordan Hamilton GOAL...TFC Jonathan Osorio at 25 yards in middle rolls pass to TFC Raheem Edwards
who from 18 yards on right crosses forward and left that has Hamilton dive forward and head in 4 yarder from left
post into right side of net.

Final Score:.......Toronto FC.........5...........Columbus Crew............0.............

Attendance was announced as 25376. It looked very much like rain and a misty rain started
on my way here but it stopped before game time but that may have scared away some of the
walk up crowd. Another reason is this game was moved forward half hour after we received
our tickets. A lot of people in my section didn't arrive until up to the 30 minute mark.

Man of the Match (who is always a TFC player) was named as Victor Vazquez. I agree for his
two goals--one a Penalty kick and one freekick from the edge of the box. He may be the new
TFC Penalty kick taker even with regulars Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore scheduled
to return.

Eventually Canadian Jonathan Osorio, Jordan Hamilton, and Raheem Edwards got into the game.
Edwards actually replaced Canadian Tosaint Ricketts at 82 minutes. The Canadians scored the
last two goals while TFC were a man down. Their finishers at the end may well make them starters
against Ottawa in the Canadian Championships semi-finals because of the three-Canadian-starters
rule. Raheem Edwards will not be one of them as he stupidly took a second Yellow card in injury
time on Tuesday so he will be suspended for the second leg this Wednesday. It will also
be interesting to see that some of the Canadians will be back on the bench when the stars return.

Jordan Hamilton replaces Ben Spencer at 59 minutes. It would have been interesting to see
if Hamilton had started would TFC have put this game away earlier. Spencer is not even a star
on the TFC II team in USL but there he shanks shots off target or fumbles them away. Tonight
he was trying to pass the ball away as soon as possible.

Alex Bono earned the shutout without having much to do but had a lot of help with
Steven Beitashour and Drew Moor making key clearances with header to stop action into the TFC box.
Bono was aggressiove with coming out to the edge of the box to catch or smother ball before
a Crew forward could get to them.

It looks like Victor Vazquez steps to the front of the line to take Penalty kicks with Jozy Altidore
and Sebastian Giovinco both havingt Penalty kicks stopped this year. Actually Altidore twice!
There'd been message board and media speculation about this and the decision was easy with the
two Designated Players not in tonight's game.

TFC won tonight without injureed Sebastian Giovinco and Nick Hagglund, and suspended Jozy Altidore
(one game for Yellow card accumulation).

Crew played their best between the first and second goal but after that couldn't get good chances.
They replaced their star players by 70 minutes to fight another day.

Media reports said this was the worst Crew defeat in club history. They were one of the original
clubs in 1996. It is the largest TFC win in MLS play in their history.

TFC move back up to a five point lead for first place in the Eastern Conference. Chicago had closed
to two with a rare Thursday night game by beating western power FC Dallas. The other eastern teams
play on the weekend but are well behind TFC.

TFC players went to the south side after they were presented with the Trillium Cup and lead the
Icelandic chant while pounding their drum.

On the way out we were given a piece of bread in a wrapper to promote 'carb smart' by Dimpflmeier Bakery.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

stats from MLSsoccer.com
Match Information

Goals and Assists
6' TOR Víctor Vázquez (PK)
39' TOR Justin Morrow Assisted By: Ben Spencer
59' TOR Víctor Vázquez
86' TOR Jonathan Osorio Assisted By: Jordan Hamilton
90'+3' TOR Jordan Hamilton Assisted By: Raheem Edwards, Jonathan Osorio

Disciplinary
5' CLB Jonathan Mensah Reason: Unsporting Behavior
81' TOR Marco Delgado Reason: Serious Foul (RED card)

Lineup

Toronto FC
19 F Ben Spencer (60')
87 F Tosaint Ricketts (83')
25 G Alexander Bono
15 D Eriq Zavaleta
3 D Drew Moor
23 D Chris Mavinga
33 M Steven Beitashour
18 M Marco Delgado
4 M Michael Bradley
7 M Víctor Vázquez (68')
2 M Justin Morrow

Bench
1 G Clint Irwin
12 D Jason Hernandez
8 M Benoit Cheyrou
31 M Armando Cooper
21 M Jonathan Osorio (68')
22 F Jordan Hamilton (60')
44 F Raheem Edwards (83')

Manager Greg Vanney

Columbus Crew SC
11 F Ola Kamara (68')
23 G Zack Steffen
25 D Harrison Afful
24 D Nicolai Naess
4 D Jonathan Mensah
14 D Waylon Francis
20 M Wil Trapp
28 M Niko Hansen
10 M Federico Higuaín (65')
9 M Justin Meram (40')
19 M Kekuta Manneh

Bench
41 G Brad Stuver
2 D Jukka Raitala
3 D Josh Williams
21 D Alex Crognale
12 M Adam Jahn (65')
7 M Artur (40')
13 F Ethan Finlay (68')

Manager Gregg Berhalter

Officials
Referee Drew Fischer
Assistant Referee Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho
Assistant Referee Craig Lowry
Fourth Official Chris Penso

Match Information
MLS at BMO Field
Toronto, ON
Attendance 25376
Weather Clear

Team Statistics
TOR COL
11 Shots 11
7 Shots on Target 0
3 Shots off Target 8
1 Blocked Shots 3
3 Corners 4
7 Crosses 13
2 Offsides 3
8 Fouls 10
0 Yellow Cards 1
1 Red Cards 0
362 Total Passes 631
75 % Passing Accuracy 87 %
36.4 % Possession 63.6 %
49 Duels Won 33
15 Tackles Won 6
0 Saves 2
19 Clearances 6

Toronto FC starters